Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Monday, May 2, 2016

Organization Gene

Did I say I didn't have birds here? I put a suet feeder on the tree for the woodpecker that comes by sometimes. Told Bob to give the birds 2 weeks to find it.
In less than an hour this happened. I was napping and missed who the visitor was but I was very excited.

Decided to watch for a bit. In a flash 4 STARLINGS descended and covered the feeder. I fear my suet feeding days are over. I am not happy!
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I've about decided organization is genetic, either you're born with it or forget it, it will never be natural to you, I was born with a double dose of it.

My answer to everything is a notebook/organizer. I was in glory when they came out with those. Can't tell you how many I've worn out. My daughter says when I'm old and senile she's going to take one of my organizers with many pages, stand in front of my chair every morning before she goes to work, and thrown all those pages up in the air. That way she won't have to worry about what I'm getting into while she's at work. I'll be busy putting my organizer back in order. The next day she will repeat the process.

I thought of that this morning talking to my sister-in-law. I've been in the family with her 54 years and have never known her to be able to even think an organized thought, let alone do any. For many years that drove me crazy. I tried very hard to organize that woman but it was just not meant to be. One time she even bought a Chief school tablet to write in but that failed as well.

In our conversation this morning she was lamenting to me how overwhelmed she was feeling with life. How she used to be able to keep everything together, (NOT), but now she can't find anything or remember any of her business matters. I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times we've had this same conversation, over and over and over.

Paper is her undoing. She apparently believes every ad she gets is a personal letter. Never seen anybody who could save so much of that stuff. She's reluctant to throw anything away until she's 'gone through it.' She had boxes upon boxes of that stuff to go through recently when she downsized from house to apartment. She's always sure there's a bargain in there or something she needs that she wouldn't find out about any other way.

Not me, my biggest pleasure is filling up trash containers. When Bob was in good health he would take all the post paid envelopes and fill them with ads from other advertisers and mail them back. That's one way to get rid of trash.

My sister-in-law is always sure she can buy car insurance cheaper than what she currently has. That was her plight this morning. She was calling different companies and had lost her current policy among all the papers and advertisements she had in front of her. She does that kind of stuff all the time. She jots down quotes but fails to date the note or note the source of the quote.

Not me, I hate using the phone. Find a good company and stick with it. That's my motto.

She managed to hang on to their marriage license 59 years and then lost it taking care of business after her husband died. Had to go through all the hassle of getting a new one.

Keep that stuff all together I say. No need to have information scattered all over the house.

How much of an organizer are you?

21 comments:

  1. I'm a big organizer. I also have no problem getting rid of stuff when it is no longer needed. When we moved into our current house 11 years ago, a lot of "stuff" was boxed and moved, even though it was stuff that should have been tossed/donated. My hubby was certain that we should take it with us, as we might need it in the future.

    Fast forward to now; the boxes remain untouched! I like the "rule" that if you haven't worn or used an item for over a year, time to let it go.

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    1. I hear you. I am brutal these days in keeping stuff to a minimum. I want as little as possible for my next move.

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  2. You have some hilarious comments here which gave me a good chuckle. I'm quite well organized except for the top of my desk. I noticed today it's time to sort and file again. But don't get me started on my town's community activities director. I go to the community building three mornings a week for adult exercise. That place is a hell hole. It's littered with piles and piles of paper, discarded toys, lost clothing, etc., etc., etc. It upsets me to look at such chaos. I'd like to go there with a back hoe and clean it out, creating much needed SPACE.

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    1. Your activity director's office sounds like our son and daughter-in-law. They're terrible and it drives their 14 year old son crazy. Drives me crazy as well. I just deal with it by not going to visit anymore than I have to, inviting them over here is better.

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  3. Brilliant idea to mail back the junk mail.
    You and I are cut of the same cloth. I can actually look forward to cleaning out a closet and getting it back into order. I attribute my need for order to being a Virgo. Every Virgo I've ever know is always sorting and organizing things.

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  4. I can organize circles around most people I know but every so often I go off the reservation and will be messy for a few weeks. If I were younger I would have loved to go in the business of organizing other people's closets, etc. I've been known to sort merchandise in stores that other customers put back in the wrong place. Now, that's embarrassing to catch yourself doing that.

    Suet cakes with a lot of corn in them always attract Starlings. They don't like the white lard ones, though, but neither do the woodpeckers in the summer months. I use the woodpecker cakes made of mostly nuts and seeds. The Starlings stay away from them if there is a cheap corn and suet cake near-by. Starlings for me don't stick around all summer. I seem to be in a pass-through area so I get them spring and fall.

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    1. I can totally identify with organizing store merchandise.

      I read this afternoon that Starlings do not have strong beaks and cannot crack seeds easily. At the store I saw the woodpecker cakes but bought suet instead. I will buy the woodpecker cakes next time I'm at the store and see how that works.

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  5. I'm pretty organized with paper. My career was in a law office so I had lots of papers to keep organized. I have moved several times and each time was a downsize so I have consistently reduced my belongings and learned to carry memories in my heart not a box.

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    1. I like that idea of carrying memories in your heart, not in a box. That's the best place any of us can keep memories. That's where they belong.

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  6. I am completely disorganized. After a while I throw all the paper away.

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    1. At least you throw paper away. I know people who are totally disorganized and live life happy as clams. Go for it. The world needs disorganized people for us over-organized people to fret over.

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  7. I like the 'touch it once' policy! Mail goes straight to the trash or to my desk! I have an organized mind and it just comes natural to me! I come in after Louis Dean has been home alone and in one fell swoop, I straighten everything up! Now that does NOT mean I'm a minimalist! I have a ton of stuff! But I know where it is and it's all organized!

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    1. I don't doubt for a minute you are organized. With all the stuff you have you'd have to be organized to find anything. That's the secret, being able to find your stuff.

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  8. I used to know where everything was. Someone could ask where a certain something was and I could tell them to within an inch where it was, in the closet or in a drawer. Now? Not so much. DH goes behind me and croms around until all is lost and I give up. His papers, junk, car parts, keys, etc? His problem. I know nothing, nothing!

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    1. It's fine to not know where DH leaves his car parts and keys, but not so fine for you not to be able to locate business papers in the event something happens to DH.

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  9. I am also a very organized person. that includes paper as well. All mail is dealt with the day it arrives - most of it goes to the recycle bin. Bills are filed. I keep a daily planning calendar on my kitchen counter. I write reminders to myself on sticky notes. Disorganized people bug me. I always thought organizations was a learned skill.
    Maybe not.

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    1. Perhaps organization is a learned skill, I just had no luck in teaching it to my sister-in-law. One commenter said she never knew a Virgo that wasn't organized and that would be me. I am a Virgo.

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  10. Oh my, I enjoyed this post! Poppy and I both are organized. We hate junk mail and ads the come every day. He throws a stack on my side of the bar when he picks up the mail. Most of it gets carried straight to the trash. I love what your husband used to do with those ads!

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    1. My question for Bob is why does he bring that junk mail home? There's a big trash can by the mailboxes begging for donations. Leave it there!

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  11. I thought I was organized till I had a ton of doctor and hospital bills to deal with along with Medicare's tardy statements. Add a doctor with suspect billing practices that I have caught twice in error and I am barely treading water. I could use an accountant but think I now have everyone paid and not over paid. It taught me that I need to work on my organizational skills.

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